Factory Reset (ASIC Miner)

Factory reset returns an ASIC miner's software configuration to its out-of-the-box defaults. It clears the pool configuration, custom passwords, static network settings, and any tuning changes, then reverts the unit to requesting an address over DHCP. It is a routine first step when you inherit a used miner, lose access credentials, or need a clean baseline before troubleshooting a configuration problem — and on our repair bench it is often the fastest way to rule software out before anyone reaches for a screwdriver.

How it is triggered

On most Antminer-class machines you power the unit on, wait for it to finish booting, then press and hold the physical reset button on the control board for roughly five seconds (some models specify a longer hold, and on some units the IP Report button doubles as the reset trigger when held) until the status LEDs flash to acknowledge. The miner reboots with defaults and requests a fresh DHCP lease, so its address will likely change. After a reset, IP Reporter or a network scan is the quickest way to find the unit again; log in with the firmware's default credentials and re-enter your pool details. Timing matters more than people expect — pressing the button during early boot on some models does nothing or triggers a different behaviour, so let the unit come fully up first, and check your model's documented hold time rather than mashing the button.

What it does and does not do

A factory reset only rewrites configuration; it does not reinstall the operating system, repair a corrupted NAND image, or fix failing hardware. If the unit will not boot at all, you need SD card flashing or a full firmware flash, not a reset — on Zynq-based control boards the SD recovery path is selected with a jumper, while some newer control boards have no SD slot at all and need different recovery methods. Likewise, a reset will not cure a hashboard throwing chip errors, a dying fan, or a flaky PSU; those are hardware diagnoses. Think of the reset as clearing the miner's memory of your decisions, nothing more. Because it wipes your settings, restore them afterward from a config backup rather than re-entering each value by hand — especially on fleets, where hand-typed pool URLs are a classic source of silent misconfiguration.

When reset is the right move

Reach for a factory reset when symptoms point at configuration: a forgotten web UI password, a static IP set for a network that no longer exists, a miner that boots and hashes but will not connect to your new pool, or a secondhand unit whose previous life is unknown. On used machines it is also basic hygiene — you want your own credentials and your own pool in there, not the seller's leftovers. If a reset does not clear the symptom, stop repeating it and escalate: pull the kernel log, check the hardware, or start a repair with us and let the bench take it from there.

Fleet discipline around resets

At fleet scale, resets deserve a small process. Record each unit's serial number, MAC address, and location before you reset anything, because a freshly-defaulted miner on DHCP is anonymous until you match it back to your inventory — and a rack of twenty freshly-defaulted miners is an afternoon of detective work. Stagger resets rather than doing a whole shelf at once, so you can always tell which new DHCP lease belongs to which machine. And after any reset, verify the unit actually returns to full hashrate on your pool before walking away: a miner that resets cleanly but hashes at two-thirds speed just told you something important about its hardware, and that information is easy to miss if nobody looks at the dashboard until the next billing cycle.

For the full procedure and model differences, see our guide on resetting a miner to factory settings.